Coming Soon.

Ten months after he pulled his wife's feeding tube to cause her death, Michael Schiavo married his long time concubine, Jodi Centonze with their two out-of-wedlock children attending the ceremony in the Espiritu Santos Catholic Church in Safety Harbor.

According to a televised interview Schiavo gave on Feb. 2, the newly married couple honeymooned with eight other people in Las Vegas.

So how much time off did Michael Schiavo take from his job as a nurse with the inmate health care division of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department?

OSWEGO COUNTY---For the second audit in a row, state auditors have found money missing at the Palermo Justice Court because town officials have not properly overseen court activities. The audit released Tuesday by State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi found $3,000 was missing, and former Court Clerk Andrea Busko-Price admitted to taking at least $1,990 for her personal use

There is a growing pandemic in this country where the very fabric of our society, the family, is being attacked and destroyed. Our children are systematically being torn away from willing and capable parents who want to be involved in parenting their children. Families are systematically being torn apart instead of being helped when they turn to the states' family courts to solve domestic relations disputes. This document demonstrates an attempt to trace this problem back to its source.

LOS ANGELES--A deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has been convicted of three federal criminal civil rights offenses for raping a woman, forcing another woman to perform oral sex, and fondling a third womans breasts, all while on duty.

WASHINGTON, DC--The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced the filing of securities fraud charges against the operators of www.12dailypro.com, a "id autosurf program" that in fact was a massive Ponzi scheme which raised more than $50 million from over 300,000 investors worldwide by offering a 44% return on investment in just 12 days. As a result of the SEC's charges, the defendants, Charis Johnson, 33, of Charlotte, N.C., and her companies, 12daily Pro and LifeClicks, LLC, ceased their solicitation of investors and agreed to a freeze of all their assets and the appointment of a receiver who will take control of the companies' operations.

BOCA RATON, FLA---A former music teacher, accused of having sex with one of her students from the time he was in the fourth grade until he reached 13 will spend the next five years in prison.

MILWAUKEE, WI--A Wisconsin federal judge's order sealing two judicial decisions in a trade secret case illegally prevents the public from scrutinizing the judiciary, a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago unanimously ruled Wednesday, according to the Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press.

QUEENS---A Flushing woman and her husband have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in connection with a scheme to defraud in which more than $86,000 was stolen from six landlords, including a U.S. Army Reserve soldier and home owner, by failing to pay rent and utility bills over a seven-year period.

ALBANY-- New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, a coalition of community advocates, human services organizations, labor unions and religious organizations has launched a statewide campaign in response to what they say is Governor Pataki's "reckless state budget proposal".

ALBANY-- Three of New York's leading health care advocacy organizations have called for the passage of a comprehensive plan to stabilize and protect New York's nursing homes, and enhance the quality of care for thousands of New Yorkers who rely on them. Since 2003 alone, New York's nursing home crisis has caused 28 nursing homes to close or to announce plans to close statewide. It is likely others will follow unless fundamental changes are made to the state's outdated Medicaid nursing home reimbursement system.

QUEENS---The proposed removal of Queens Supreme Court Justice Laura D. Blackburne from the bench by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct is being opposed by the association representing the state's 400 Supreme Court judges.

According to a recent article titled "California Catholic Leaders Look To Oregon Lessons on Assisted Suicide", the anti-religious issue was used to lend credibility to assisted suicide before the law was passed in the state.

After reading the article “NYS Child Support Collections Top $1.5 Billion” (Feb. 25, 2006), http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/022506ChildSupport.html the words that come to mind are “fraud”, “scam”, “extortion”, “racketeering” and “government oppression”.

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Bar Speakers Bureau, a free service to civic and community organizations, is now offering lawyer speakers to present programs on the status of civics knowledge and education in Florida.

TALLAHASSEE -- When people find a lost treasure, it makes for a good story. And in Florida there have been a lot of good stories lately.

Since 2003, Florida's Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, who oversees the Department of Financial Services' Bureau of Unclaimed Property department, has returned nearly $300 million in cash and property to current or former Floridians -- about one-third of all of the cash and property returned since the program's inception in 1961.

TALLAHASSEE--The State of Florida has announced that the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) has submitted waiver applications to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to seek approval for the Florida Senior Care Program.

COLUMBUS, OHIO---A registered sexual predator has been arrested in Gahanna after police learned of his practice of drinking the urine of adolescent boys in cities around Central Ohio.

ALBANY---Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has released a report showing that his office's prescription drug price website can help significantly reduce New Yorkers' out-of-pocket payments for needed medications.

TUPPER LAKE----A Franklin County town justice has resigned as a hearing was about to commence by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct about allegations that he conducted court while under the influence of alcohol.

ALBANY---Many cities in New York State are already facing very difficult fiscal situations, and if current trends continue, more of these cities are likely to fall into severe fiscal stress in the coming years, according to a report issued by State Comptroller Alan Hevesi which provides details on the financial condition of the 61 cities outside of New York City.

ALBANY---The New York State Department of Civil Service should conduct a new competitive bid for the three-year $4.9 billion contract for prescription drugs coverage for government employees because the selected proposal from Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield did not meet bid requirements, State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi said Monday.

MANHATTAN--A concrete company owner has been sentenced to jail and will pay $1.3 million in state and city taxes.

Anselmo Genovese, 38, of 14 Peter Court in Staten Island, pleaded guilty in November 2005 to offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree and was sentenced to four months in jail, as well as the $1.3 million payment by New York State Supreme Court Judge Roger S. Hayes.

DELTONA, FLA---A road rage incident has resulted in a volunteer chaplain with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office being charged with impersonating an officer, felony aggravated assault and unlawful use of law enforcement lights.

ALBANY---In the wake of the tragic Ethan Allen boating accident on Lake George, the chairman of the state Assembly’s insurance committee has introduced a new bill which would require owners of commercial tour boats to carry marine liability insurance.

LAURENS, SC---Yet another person charged with the public trust has been arrested for allegedly violating that trust.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ---There’s the Rose Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the Super Bowl. Now there’s the Toilet Bowl.

ALBANY----Up to 5,000 senior citizens statewide could start moving out of nursing homes and back into the community over the next three years under a new state program expected to begin this spring.

OAK HARBOR, OHIO-- Bet you thought that Boss Hogg and Roscoe P. Coltrane were still in Hazzard County, Georgia.

Well, there appears to be a cloning of the Dukes of Hazzard television show, popular in the early 1980’s, re-emerging in northern Ohio in Lucas, Ottawa, Erie and Cuyahoga Counties.

SALT LAKE CITY----A part-time town judge who ruled on domestic violence cases and other misdemeanors has been ordered removed from the bench for flaunting the prohibitions of the state’s bigamy law for more than 25 years.

ALBANY--For the 11th consecutive year, child support collections in New York State have reached record levels. In 2005 collections topped $1.5 billion, a 143% increase over collections in 1994.

LAS VEGAS---A boast made from the witness stand that he had helped thousands of people avoid paying some $2 billion in income taxes was used against anti-tax crusader and author Irwin Schiff at his sentencing Friday.

SCHENECTADY---The son of Schenectady County Surrogate Court judge Barry Kramer has voluntarily placed his license to practice medicine on the state’s inactive list.

WESTCHESTER - The official opening of the Westchester County Sex Offense Court -- a court dedicated exclusively to the handling of sex offense cases -- brings the number of pilot sex offense courts operating statewide to three. New York is the first state in the nation to establish such courts.

ALBANY-- New Yorkers recovered $437 million in abandoned property over the last three years with the help of the New York State Comptroller’s Office, more than double the $199 million they recovered over the prior three years, according to a report on unclaimed funds issued by State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi. In the year ending March 31, individuals are expected to recover approximately $150 million, the second highest total ever.

MANHATTAN -- A married couple and their son has been indicted on charges of operating an illegal check cashing and money transmittal business. The company through which they conducted business has also been indicted. In a four year period, a total of $25 million flowed through the company's bank accounts, including four million dollars from illegally cashed checks, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

TALLAHASSEE -- Global Information Group, Inc., a Florida corporation, has been charged by the Florida Attorney General's office with unlawfully obtaining and selling confidential telephone records without the knowledge of the consumers whose records were being sold. This is the Attorney General's second legal action within a month targeting this form of unlawful conduct.

ALBANY -- State Health Commissioner Antonia C. Novello has unveiled the State Health Department's comprehensive Pandemic Influenza Plan, a wide-ranging initiative to help protect New Yorkers in the event of a worldwide epidemic of influenza. Many facets of the plan are already in place as part of the State's efforts to protect the health of all New Yorkers.

PERU -- The newly elected supervisor of the Town of Peru who has been in office less than two months has been charged with second degree harassment following an altercation with the town clerk.

COLUMBUS -- The public corruption scandal in Ohio continued to unfold Friday as two more former aides of Gov. Bob Taft were convicted of ethics violations for accepting loans from Republican fund raiser and coin dealer Tom Noe.

FISHKILL -- A Fishkill attorney has filed a class action lawsuit against Verizon Communications Inc. alleging and accusing the telecom provider of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by allegedly collaborating with the National Security Agency in what the attorney terms NSA's "massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications".

A California whistleblower case, deadlocked last fall at 4-4 by the U.S. Supreme Court, will again hear arguments in the First Amendment case now that Judge Samuel Alito could break the tie.

TALLAHASSEE--A Tallahassee physician has been arrested following a four-month investigation into allegations of prescription fraud.

Dr. Edmund Molis, 51, a neurologist in private practice, was arrested Wednesday evening and taken to the Leon County jail charged with 87 felony counts.

BIRMINGHAM, ALA---The circuit court clerk in Lamar County, a former police chief, has agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators.

CLEVELAND, OHIO--- In the wake of a 53-count indictment of Tom Noe, a former Republican party fundraiser and coin dealer, Ohio Auditor of State Betty Montgomery has issued her special audit of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) that says Noe, his businesses and a businesses associate owe the BWC more than $13.5 million for illegal expenditures related to BWC's investment into two rare coin funds.

As the first anniversary of the death of Terri Schindler-Schiavo approaches on March 31, her parents will release a book which offers their perspective on Terri's life and death.

PROVIDENCE, RI---First he walked the streets of Providence naked. Then he got behind the wheel of his car and drove recklessly down the same street, hitting cars and causing an accident, according to witnesses.

WASHINGTON---Combating public corruption is the top criminal program investigated by the FBI. Over the last two years, FBI investigations have lead to the conviction of more than 1,060 government employees involved in corrupt activities, to include 177 federal officials, 158 state officials, 360 local officials and more than 365 police officers.

NEW ORLEANS, LA---A former district court judge has been sentenced to federal prison for mail fraud and corruption as the result of taking bribes.

CULVER CITY, CA---A super hero he's not.

A man wearing a mask of crimefighter Spider Man walked into a store in Culver City Tuesday and was caught on tape stealing over $11,000 worth of rare comic books.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children of the County of Kings Inc., a private not-for-profit entity, has agreed to dissolve as the result of a court order and agreement with the Attorney General's office.

ALBANY -- As the result of cooperative efforts between the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Attorney General's office, the state has reached agreements with 31 companies for the cleanup of the Hexagon Laboratories hazardous waste site in the Bronx. Payments from the companies, including the value of construction work they are providing, exceed $6 million and will cover most of the cleanup costs.

Louis Fisher is one of the nation's foremost experts on American government and separation of powers. For 35 years, he has provided nonpartisan research for members of Congress and their staffs as a scholar at the Congressional Research Service, a part of the Library of Congress.

NEW YORK---Saying that the case was "like something out of a cheap horror movie", Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes announced the indictment of four men for enterprise corruption in a body snatching scheme for profit.

QUEENS----Kiko, a 27-year-old Manhattan resident, one of New York City's more notorious graffiti taggers, has been arraigned on charges of extensively vandalizing public and private property in the Astoria and Long Island City sections of Queens County.

LAKE GEORGE---Victims and families of the victims of the tour boat Ethan Allen which capsized in Lake George last October have been told by the attorney for the boat’s owner that the company can’t help pay for funeral and hospitalization expenses because its insurance company refuses to pay.

ARLINGTON, VA--The little pink house in New London, Conn., that started a nationwide property rights revolt still stands one year after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments and then eventually ruled that it could be torn town for private development.

MINEOLA -- The driver of a fuel oil delivery truck has been charged with attempted grand larceny in the fourth degree, a Class A misdemeanor, and possession of a false device, an unclassified misdemeanor under the state's Agriculture and Markets Law, for his alleged theft of 500 gallons of home heating oil from the senior citizen facility, Town of Hempstead Housing, Park Gardens in Uniondale.

JOHNSTOWN -- Because members of the swim team in Fonda-Fultonville and Johnstown could be potential witnesses in the case against former swim team coach Erik Betz, Fulton County Court Judge Richard Giardino has issued an order of protection which prohibits Betz from entering the property of the two school districts.

MIAMI---Harris Cohen was sentenced this week to over 12 years in prison and five years of supervised release in connection with his participation in fraudulent business opportunity sales at a firm called AmeriP.O.S. Inc.

QUEENS---A Manhattan man has been rearrested for allegedly defrauding Queens consumers by pretending to be a manager of a retail electronic store, such as Best Buy, Circuit City or P.C. Richards, and offering to sell them electronic equipment such as plasma televisions and laptop computers at a deep discount.

PLATTSBURGH---A Plattsburgh doctor who has admitted to having sexual relations with four of his patients has been suspended for at least a year.

When a certain number of sociologists -- scientists---social engineers ---first hatched the idea of ancient religious beliefs and convictions, knowing the extreme teachings of Islam in a post modern world, they insisted that Islam would change with the times. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.

ALBANY---The Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that sexual abuse cases brought against priests in the Syracuse and Brooklyn Roman Catholic Dioceses were barred by the statute of limitations.

PHILADELPHIA---After a mailman left letters, packages and periodicals on Barbara Dolan's porch instead of in her mailbox, she tripped over it and suffered wrist and back injuries at her home in suburban Philadelphia in 2001.

ALBANY---While the former English teacher at Christian Brothers Academy was having sexual relations last May and June with teenage male students at the Catholic school, her prominent banker husband was allegedly engaged in an affair with a married woman, the New York Post reports.

LAKE GEORGE--As the lawsuits compound in the October capsizing of the tour boat Ethan Allen on Lake George, it appears that Shoreline Cruises, the boat’s owner, doesn’t have adequate insurance to cover the losses.

MANHATTAN---A 35-year-old Upper West Side man has been sentenced to one year in jail and full restitution for stealing $363,000 from The Home Depot and $5,844 from two other home renovation providers.

BROOKLYN---A Brooklyn man has been indicted for posing as a licensed doctor of veterinary medicine and conducting risky surgeries on people’s pet.

TALLAHASSEE -A multimillion dollar settlement with Tenet Healthcare Corporation, resolving allegations that the company falsely inflated its hospitals' charges from 2000 to 2003 to obtain reimbursements from a Medicare fund has been announced by the Florida Attorney General’s office.

TALLAHASSEE –A Broward County woman who attempted to collect twice on her hurricane claim has been arrested.

ALBANY--The New York State Senate has passed legislation and sent it to the Assembly that would amend the way candidates for State Supreme Court Justices are selected by abolishing political party nominations by a judicial district convention and replacing it with a petition process that is similar to the selection process used by judges at the county level.

ALBANY---Violent criminals would he held accountable for their actions by closing a loophole that allows them to escape prosecution and punishment for their crimes after five years in a bill passed by the Senate is signed into law.

I have finally seen it all.  Democrats are finally admitting who they are and what they believe.  Jeremy Zilber has written a book entitled "Why Mommy Is A Democrat".  It isn't a revelation to those of us that have understood the socialist nature of the Democrat party for a long time, but it is amazing that the Democrats would actually embrace this openly.

ORLANDO, FLA---A jury has found the former district commander of the Florida Highway Patrol guilty of attempted official misconduct and false official statements, both misdemeanors.

BUFFALO---The brain-damaged firefighter who suddenly spoke last April after being in what had been termed a persistent vegetative state for 10 years, has died after being hospitalized on Sunday with pneumonia. His wife and four sons were with him when he died.

MANHATTAN----Richard P. Adelson of Montebello, former president and chief operating officer of Impath, a company which provided cancer diagnostic services, is scheduled to be sentenced May 30 after being found guilty in U.S. District Court of conspiracy, securities fraud and three counts of false filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The good ole boy network seems to be alive and thriving in the South---southern Florida to be exact.

The judges and the lawyers in the Pinellas County legal system are busy patting themselves on the back and giving each other awards----and benefiting handsomely from guardianships and estates.

On the road again.

Yep, Pinellas County probate court judge George W. Greer is packing his black robe and embarking on yet another engagement outside of Florida.

No decision yet.

It's been 11 days since North Country Gazette publisher June Maxam appeared in Warren County Court on Feb. 8 by order of Judge John S. Hall to report for 100 days of incarceration because Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland claims she hasn't finished serving a sentence from a May, 2000 conviction--nearly six years ago.

William Greene, president of RightMarch.com, is shamelessly circulating email solicitations using the name of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, claiming that he's raising money for a political action committee known as Terri's List even though the Schindler family have asked him to stop doing so.

He's exploiting her name.

HUDSON FALLS---A Hudson Falls man has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Albany to the production and possession of child pornography.

LAKE GEORGE---Two more lawsuits have been filed on behalf of victims of the capsizing of the tour boat Ethan Allen on Lake George in October.

ALBANY---Even though the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles has presumably withdrawn its new regulation pertaining to motor vehicle inspections after it met strong opposition by the State Legislature, DMV is still advertising the new regulation on its website.

CHESTERTOWN---The transition of 12 Adirondack Tops Markets back to Grand Union was completed this week as the stores closed as Tops and reopened a day later as GU Family Markets.

An estimated 225,000 homes were without power as the result of what National Grid was calling the worst windstorm in more than five years in the northeast Friday and into Saturday.

GLOVERSVILLE---A Gloversville man has pleaded guilty to crimes related to illegal asbestos removal activities throughout New York State.

FONDA---Fulton County Court Judge Richard Giardino will hear arguments Tuesday, Feb. 21 if the former coach of the Fonda-Johnstown combined girls varsity swim team should be barred from the campuses of the Johnstown and Fonda-Fultonville school districts.

SCHENECTADY---A Scotia nurse is one of 14 people arrested in a prescription drug sweep, accused of conspiring with others to distribute the narcotic hydrocodone.

The preamble to Florida's Code of Judicial Conduct says that our legal system is based on the principle that an independent, fair and competent judiciary will interpret and apply the laws that govern us.

There's no exemption in there for Pinellas County's George W. Greer, the judge who signed Terri Schindler Schiavo's death warrant.

David Gibbs III, attorney for the parents of disabled Terri Schiavo who died by judicial order last March, and George Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo who fought for eight years for court permission to kill his wife, will join the renowned attorney Gloria Allred to discuss the fascinating case of Terri Schiavo and its effect on the nation in an exclusive to be aired later this month by WealthTV.

ALBANY---The state Attorney General's office has obtained a preliminary injunction barring protesters from blocking access to a reproductive health facility in lower Manhattan. Still is.

WATERTOWN--The Attorney General's office is seeking contempt-of-court charges and fines against the owner of a Watertown moving and storage company who inexplicably prevented customers, including returning U.S. Army soldiers, from reclaiming their household furnishings and personal belongings.

QUEENS---A Brooklyn man who attempted to stage an automobile collision in order to collect insurance money has been convicted on manslaughter and conspiracy charges after the 71-year-old driver of the car he struck lost control of her vehicle, slammed into a tree and died.

TALLAHASSEE - Two Central Floridians have been arrested for their involvement in a scheme that defrauded elderly investors out of more than $9.1 million. Patrick Kirkland and Laura Wade were arrested Thursday on charges of various securities fraud, organized fraud, grand theft and unlawful sale of unregistered securities charges. The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution.

MINEOLA----A former employee of the Town of Hempstead has been charged with stealing more than $70,000 from the municipality.

NEW YORK---The state Commission of Investigation (SIC) has concluded that significant mistakes were made by the Buffalo Police Department in the course of its homicide investigation of Timothy Dzialak, murdered in Buffalo in November, 1998.

WASHINGTON D.C.-A former deputy sheriff with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office has pleaded guilty to willfully using excessive force. While employed as a deputy sheriff, Charles Dix used his stun gun on a citizen while she was in a store parking lot in Pensacola, Fla.

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union has urged a California federal court to reject the government's demand for millions of Google search records, saying that it has not justified the need for obtaining massive amounts of consumer information.

MANHATTAN--While capping the growth in county Medicaid costs eased local taxpayer burdens, more needs to be done at the state level to rein in Medicaid spending and prevent a fiscal crisis, according to a new study by the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center.

New York State is struggling to sustain a oversized network of health-care institutions that is too big, costly, and inflexible for society that is likely to lose population and continue to see changes in its health-care preferences and needs, according to a new report from a blue-ribbon commission exploring ways to right-size New York's hospital and nursing home sector.

ALBANY-Peter Mravlja, 34, of Worcester has been indicted and arraigned on charges of arson, insurance fraud, and witness tampering in connection with an April 2003 fire which occurred at Mravlja Farms in Worcester.

CREEK COUNTY, OK---In December, following a preliminary hearing, a judge found that enough probable cause existed for the trial of former district court judge Donald Thompson to proceed.

Thompson, 59, is charged with four felony counts of indecent exposure for allegedly using a "penis pump" under his judicial robes while adjudicating two murder trials and a civil trial in 2003.

DELRAY BEACH, FL---A former Delray Beach police officer and a self-proclaimed psychic and fortune teller have pleaded guilty to fraud and corruption charges in U.S. District Court in Miami.

WEST PALM BEACH, FL---A medical doctor who practiced pain management medicine in West Palm Beach, has pleaded guilty to operating a drug distribution ring between Florida and Vermont for several years.

NEW YORK--A former administrative law judge for the Parking Violations Bureau of the New York City Department of Finance who used his position to avoid paying $12,000 in parking tickets has been suspended from practicing law for three years by the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, First Department.

Arthur Caplan is one of Michael Schiavo's biggest fans.

He was one of the most outspoken advocates to kill Terri Schindler Schiavo.

Still is.

As protests continue, the debate begins.

Many difficult issues have been raised by the publication of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish newspaper - as well as by the violent reactions to it. But for all who worry about how fallout from the controversy will affect free speech, one question stands out:

Does freedom of expression include the right to offend deeply held religious convictions?

Does anybody understand the fixation the U.S. media has over Dick Cheney's hunting accident? And that is all it was; an accident, not a purposeful act. Our media is so obsessed over a hunting accident that they persistently report who delivered the information to the public, when the information was delivered, when the White House should have reported the information, ad nauseam. The media has an unhealthy preoccupation with this issue.

TAMPA, FLA--Four indictments charging a total of 26 defendants with conspiracy to commit mail and insurance fraud have been unsealed. The indictments were returned by a federal grand jury in November and December 2005, and were unsealed Wednesday as agents began arresting those indicted. At least 19 of the 26 were in custody as of Thursday morning.

MIDDLETOWN-The state Attorney General's office has filed a lawsuit against a Middletown home improvement contractor who reneged on an agreement to pay refunds to consumers.

LOS ANGELES---While most tax return preparers provide excellent service to their clients, the IRS urges taxpayers to be very careful when choosing a tax preparer. "Taxpayers should be as careful as they would be in choosing a doctor or a lawyer," says Victor Omelczenko, IRS spokesman in Los Angeles. "It is important to know that even if someone else prepares a tax return, the taxpayer is ultimately responsible for all the information on the tax return."

MIAMI--Gregory Delatour. operator of a Miami AIDS clinic, has pleaded guilty in connection with a Medicare fraud. In proceedings before U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz, Delatour has pleaded guilty to an information charging him with conspiracy to commit health care fraud in relation to the clinic, which operated in Miami during 2005.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA-- Attorney Terry Christensen has been indicted by a federal grand jury that returned a superseding indictment in the racketeering case against former private investigator for the stars, Anthony Pellicano. The superseding indictment adds two counts to an indictment unsealed last week - conspiracy and wiretapping charges against Pellicano and Christensen.

TALLAHASSEE - A Miami-Dade County man has been arrested for allegedly attempting to defraud the state Medicaid program out of more than $630,000. Mario Secada, owner of V& M Pharmacy Discount, Inc., billed Medicaid for expensive HIV/AIDS and psychiatric medications that were never prescribed, purchased or dispensed to Medicaid recipients, according to the Florida Attorney General's office. He has been a fugitive for eight months.

TALLAHASSEE-- The Pinellas County law firm of Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel & Burns, LLP has been selected as the 2006 recipient of the Law Firm Commendation Award from Chief Justice Barbara Pariente of the Florida Supreme Court.

BALLSTON SPA---Saratoga Supreme Court Justice Thomas Nolan has dismissed a lawsuit brought by social worker Susan Kahn, owner of Supervised Visitations Inc. of Clifton Park again Ken Rohling and Deborah Fellows.

QUEENSBURY---The former chief of the South Queensbury Volunteer Fire Department has pleaded guilty to felony grand larceny in a plea bargain deal that allows him to avoid any jail time.